The Arabian Nights: Tales from a Thousand and One Nights (Modern Library MM)
by Anonymous, Richard Francis Burton
|
|
Sign in to Goodreads to see your friends' reviews of The Arabian Nights: Tales from a Thousand and One Nights.
discuss this book
![100 Greatest Books of All Time [Franklin Library]](http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/groups/1214759499p2/5313.jpg)
friend reviews (0)
To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
lists with this book
This book is not in any lists. Go add it to a list.
other reviews (showing 1-20 of 1103)
Read in July, 2006
Okay, i didn't read the whole thing. maybe someday i'll get there. here's the thing about it: it's all about Richard Burton's footnotes. they are so Imperially Racist and naive that it throws the entire translation into question. i found myself wondering, "what's the *real* folktale like? how is it *really* told?" but, unlike Burton and/or his lackeys, i'm not going to spend the better part of ten years researching and translating Arabic tales, so i guess i'll just have to take hi...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in October, 2007
This edition is a translation of the first 271 nights from the "1001 Nights" cycle.
One of my favorite aspects of this work is the role of Shahrazad. While many people discuss that she is telling the stories to save her own life, what people fail to recognize many times is that, really, she volunteers to be placed in the position in order to save her kingdom. She's a great literary heroine--saving the world through storytelling.
It also provides a great lens into a world that t...more
One of my favorite aspects of this work is the role of Shahrazad. While many people discuss that she is telling the stories to save her own life, what people fail to recognize many times is that, really, she volunteers to be placed in the position in order to save her kingdom. She's a great literary heroine--saving the world through storytelling.
It also provides a great lens into a world that t...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in March, 2008
recommends it for:
fairy tale fans
I loved this book when I was a kid and was not disappointed when I re-read it as an adult.
Scheherazade marries who marries a king who is determined never to let a woman break his heart. To keep his heart safe, he marries a virgin each day and spends one night with her, putting each woman to death in the morning. Scheherazade has a plan to save her life. She spends her night with the king telling him a story long enough that it will not be finished by daybreak. She keeps the king's intere...more
Scheherazade marries who marries a king who is determined never to let a woman break his heart. To keep his heart safe, he marries a virgin each day and spends one night with her, putting each woman to death in the morning. Scheherazade has a plan to save her life. She spends her night with the king telling him a story long enough that it will not be finished by daybreak. She keeps the king's intere...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Ada seorang raja yang punya hobi mengeksekusi istrinya setelah malam pertama ( bener-bener kurang ajar! ) Ia kena batunya setelah menikahi seorang perempuan bernama Shahrazad. Karena takut dibunuh, Shahrazad menceritakan dongeng yang membuat sang raja tertarik setiap malamnya tapi ia selalu menggantung ending setiap dongengnya setiap malam sehingga sang raja penasaran dan memutuskan untuk menunda eksekusi keesokan harinya ( cewe pinter! ) Maka selama 1001 malam meluncurlah dongeng dongeng menari...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
اینکه هزار و یک شب و شهرزاد قصهگو به ترتیب مرجع و مادر ادبیات داستانی هستند شکی را باقی نمیگذارد. فکر میکنم هنوز بسیار میتوان گفت از هزار و یک شب و کشف راز و رمزهای داستانی آن. اما برای خواندن هزار و یک شب نیاز به یک ضمیمه هم هست و آن کتابی است به این آدرس:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/...
ری...more
http://www.goodreads.com/book/...
ری...more
Like this review?
yes
1 comments
I read this when I was in Rome. For some reason that seems like an important detail to me. For the most part, these were pretty entertaining fables. Some of them are kind of messed. And by kind of I mean really. For example, the back of the book describes "Prince Behram and the Princess Al-Datma" as "a charming early version of 'The Taming of the Shrew'." I don't know who wrote A Thousand and One Nights and I don't know who wrote the synopsis on the back of my volume, b...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2004
recommends it for:
a good introduction to Arabic imagination
I read the Arabic version only. I could see how it portrays love and romance from the standpoint of man alone. Things may be attributed to females in the story but you could easily see beyond a shadow of doubt that the male narrator is using females to mouthpiece his male view of sexuality for instance. But again such is a plethora of Arabic poetry and stories of these times then. Which presents the dilemma of the Arab man: he wants a woman to be free spirited and say what she wants about sexu...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
We had an old, leatherbound copy of this in our house while I was growing up and I loved the language and the incredibly complicated, convoluted stories within stories. I learned what to do if you find a magic lamp or bottle, how not to act if you meet a jinni, and why it is best not to trust anyone who ever asks you to carry them on your back. They were also pretty racy and violent for a kid of my age growing up in a conservative home - that was a plus.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
this is so hilarious!
It says Volume 1 right on the cover under the title and yet there weren't anymore published by these people.
Burton (which this collection hails from) himself brought together ten volumes of these tales. That's why I have so many added editions here for these. There are so many and none of the face-showing western pubs sell the whole crop from this guy. Are they afraid Burton's dirt will rub off on them?
What gives?
It says Volume 1 right on the cover under the title and yet there weren't anymore published by these people.
Burton (which this collection hails from) himself brought together ten volumes of these tales. That's why I have so many added editions here for these. There are so many and none of the face-showing western pubs sell the whole crop from this guy. Are they afraid Burton's dirt will rub off on them?
What gives?
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Wow, those Arabs and Persians were really afraid of being cuckolded by African men. Every other story has some woman being unfaithful with a black man. I guess the storytellers were a little insecure(?)
It's such a tantalizingly small window into a completely foreign viewpoint and human experience. I loved this translation too. The introduction gives a nice overview of the origins of the stories and the translation history.
It's such a tantalizingly small window into a completely foreign viewpoint and human experience. I loved this translation too. The introduction gives a nice overview of the origins of the stories and the translation history.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
I read this book, story by story, cover to cover, and loved it. While I have always enjoyed fairy tales and fables, Arabian Nights stands out as a personal favorite. I enjoyed the nested stories even though I frequently lost track of the layers. The stories are fun and clever and I did not feel put off by the treatment of women. For bawdy, entertaining morality tales, look no further than the Arabian Nights.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in March, 2007
The stories spiral into and out of each other... towards the end, they get repetitive, and after finishing the book, it's tough to be able to keep each individual story straight. But it doesn't matter which demon caused which person trouble after the fact, it's a good read, and quite amusing, though it does get a little dry after a while. A good book to read interspersed while reading something else.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 1988
recommended to Maureen by:
J.G. Bennettrecommends it for: everyone
I read the most famous of the stories (and many of the not-so-famous) to my children from the Burton translation. Many of these tales bear resemblance to Sufi teaching stories, and all of them are worth reading. I don't think you have to read every single one of the tales from the sixteen volume Burton translation, but everyone's psyche will be enriched from exposure to these wonderful stories.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2004
recommends it for:
anyone and everyone!
Okay, so this is definately in my top 3 favs of all time! It is an amazing book, and I've read it twice, but I'm not completely sure who translated the one I read. Anyway, I have vowed that I would read this book with my husband someday because it has probably the best love story in it that I have ever read. It's not super mushy but just a pure, plain, simple love. Oh! such a good book!
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in April, 2007
The 1001 Nights is unquestionably one of the most remarkable artistic and literary phenomenon in human history! And this edition is Haddawy's great English translation of the legendary reconstructed Arabic text that was the product of Muhsin Mahdi's two decades of academic labor. A must-read, but even better with an accompanying guide to the historical and cultural context.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
I read this when I was ten and I find the verse just as beautiful as ever. There's a lot of fables you've never heard of...filler stories and just so stories as it were. But nothing beats the original tales of Aladdin, Sinbad, Ali Baba...these are just archetypal stories told with vivid wonder. An excellent translation that holds up well today.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
one summer in elementary school i read these in my favorite cozy school library in ukraine. i don't remember much but i do remember the way the old crumbled pages smelled as i hungrily turned them, wanting more and more stories as i fell in love with reading. it was an enchanting experience which i hope i never forget. beautiful things.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2005
This book started out being really interesting but as I went on the stories started to get muddled in my head and seemed to run together. What's nice though is that since it's really just a bunch of short stories if you do get bored with it you can put it down and come back much later and pick up just where you left of.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in October, 2007
I made the same mistake with this as with Grimm's fairy Tales. I read them all one after another. And while some of the stories were amazing, the common themes of murder, greed, racism and misogynism wore me down after a while. Also, the stories within stories within stories...well, it made me a bit impatient.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 1996
The key to enjoying the tales in this book is to realize that yes, it is dated. But all things considered, on strictly an entertainment level, this book works. From a culture standpoint, with so many stories finding a life of their own outside this collection, "The Arabian Nights" is a must-read.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
